SNK (2001 – present)

This article describes the current "SNK Corporation" (formerly Playmore and SNK Playmore), which was established in 2001 and inherited the intellectual property rights from the company existed until 2001. To see the article about the old company, check "SNK (1978 – 2001)".

SNK Corporation

SNK Corporation company logo (used since 2016)

Native name

株式会社ＳＮＫ

Romanized name

Kabushiki-gaisha SNK

Formerly

PLAYMORE Corporation (2001 - 2003)

SNK PLAYMORE CORPORATION (2003 - 2016)
SNK CORPORATION (2016 - present)

Type

Kabushiki gaisha

Industry

Planning, development and sales of home and commercial games machines and game software, operation of amusement facilities, etc.

Predecessor

SNK (1978 - 2001)

Founded

August 1, 2001

Founder

Eikichi Kawasaki

Headquarters

Suita, Osaka, Japan (until March 19, 2023)
Yodogawa-ku, Osaka, Japan (since March 20, 2023)

Area served

Worldwide

Key people

Kenji Matsubara (President & CEO)

Ge Zhihui, Badr Hamoud A AlBadr, Jeffrey Brooke Peters, Philip Alan Earl, Atsushi Morita, Shiro Uchida & Naoya Tsurumi (Directors)

Products

Game System:

Video game:

Number of employees

Increase ~400 (as of December 2022)

Subsidiaries

SNK Entertainment

SNK Beijing
SNK H.K., Ltd.
SNK Interactive
SNK USA Corporation

Website

SNK USA website

"THE FUTURE IS NOW."

- Slogan

SNK Corporation (株式会社ＳＮＫ, Kabushiki-gaisha SNK^?) is a computer game manufacturer headquartered in Osaka, Osaka Prefecture, Japan. It is a full member of the Computer Entertainment Supplier's Association and the Japan Online Game Association. It is a Japanese video game hardware and software company, founded on August 1, 2001 in Osaka, Japan, originally as an affiliate of the original SNK.^[1]

It was originally founded as Playmore Corporation, by Eikichi Kawasaki, the founder of the original SNK, serving as an IP management company; in reality, it was envisioned to be the successor company of SNK that eventually acquired the intellectual property rights of the former company of the same name, which went bankrupt in 2001.^[2]

On July 2003, Playmore rebranded as SNK Playmore Corporation, seeking to reclaim its original identity. Playmore's resemblance to the original SNK led to a return to the original company name on December 1, 2016.

SNK is an acronym of Shin Nihon Kikaku ("新日本企画", "New Japan Project"^?), and adopted its name from its original incarnation, used since 1986.

History

The Play to Rebirth

Playmorehp — Playmore Corporation official site (www.playmore.co.jp).

Already seeing the danger signs of bankruptcy of SNK from failed ventures and the tough arcade business, Kawasaki established another company, Playmore Corporation on August 1, 2001.^[3]^[4] It was originally an affiliate of the former SNK, a legal company specializing in copyright management services, and it would be incorrect to refer to the former SNK as its predecessor company. In a way, it was envisioned as Kawasaki's insurance so that SNK and its products would live on in other ways and forms under his control and would not die out or be acquired by other entities. On October 30, of the same year, the company won the company's intellectual property rights in a bid made during the bankruptcy of the former SNK.

Snk-Playmore-headquarters — SNK Playmore headquarters in Esaka, Osaka.

As a part of their efforts to reestablish their presence in the gaming market, Playmore purchased Brezzasoft and renamed it SNK NeoGeo Corp, giving the company an internal game development team. A Japanese commercial games distributor, Sun Amusement, was also purchased in order to provide the company with an arcade distribution outlet in Japan. International offices were established in South Korea, Hong Kong, and reintroduced in the United States under the SNK NeoGeo name for commercial, and later, consumer gaming distribution. In July 2003, with the permission of Eikichi Kawasaki, the founder of the former SNK company, the company changed its name to SNK Playmore Corporation.^[5] Today, the new SNK highly resembles the original company. It employs a good proportion of employees from the old SNK and reoccupied its former building until moving out in 2023 for a larger space. However, the U.S division has drastically changed, with the office being located in Wall, New Jersey instead of California. Formerly, SNK's line of games have been distributed in Europe by Ignition Entertainment, a more recent videogame company based in Essex, United Kingdom.

In October 2002, Kawasaki sued Aruze for copyright infringement regarding SNK's intellectual properties which were used without authorization from Playmore, to the tune of 6.2 billion yen in damages. In January 2004, a preliminary decision was handed down by the Osaka District Court favoring SNK Playmore and was awarded 5.64 billion yen. Within that period of fall and winter of 2003, SNK Playmore obtained an injunction against a group of four different companies, which resulted in hundreds of AES cartridges being seized. But the following year, SNK Playmore struck a compromise with two of the companies as they were allowed to sell the AES cartridges, with the conditions that they could not be modified again and any legitimate materials were to be returned to them. SNK Playmore would within the same year discontinue the AES system, preferring to publish video games in cooperation with Sammy, using their Atomiswave arcade board, which would provide them a more secure platform for new arcade releases. On December 17, 2004 SNK Neo Geo USA Consumer Corporation announced it would rename to SNK Playmore USA Corporation to facilitate worldwide recognition.

In September 2006 in the Tokyo Game Show, SNK Playmore announced that they have ceased production of games on the Atomiswave, favoring Taito's Type X2 arcade platform. To counter the decline in the commercial gaming industry, the company has in recent times shifted some of its development focus to consumer games, including original games for the PlayStation 2, Nintendo DS, mobile phones, and more. Games continue to be ported to the PlayStation 2 and, in some cases, Microsoft's Xbox (mostly in the US since most of the games did not get an approval from SCEA). Only in Japan, SNK Playmore has released the Neo Geo Online Collection for the PS2 containing some of their older games, containing emulations of their classic games, with the ability to play online through KDDI matching service. Original titles were also released based on their existing properties, such as the Metal Slug 3D and the KOF: Maximum Impact.

SNK Playmore USA released its first game on Xbox Live, which is Fatal Fury Special. SNK Playmore also supported Nintendo's Virtual Console service on the Wii in the US with Fatal Fury, Art of Fighting, and World Heroes. On the PS2, The King of Fighters XI, and Neo Geo Battle Coliseum came out for the PS2 in 2007 (with US release dates of November 13 and December 17 respectively).

3198 858482 — SNK's Esaka's second headquarters in Esaka, Osaka.

During the 2010s, with SNK's revival, Chinese companies began showing interest in SNK Playmore and their IP's. Examples of this are the release of KOF 98 Ultimate Match HERO in IGS's PGM 2 board and the guest appearance of Terry Bogard and Benimaru Nikaido in Tencent's Xuan Dou Zhi Wang. In 2015, rumors were reported about the acquisition of the company by the Chinese Leyou Technologies. In August 6, 2015, these rumors became true as the joint venture Zheyuan (formed by Oriental Securities and Shunrong Sanqi/37Games) invested 63.5 million USD in Ledo Millenium (subisidiary of Leyou) to purchase 81.25% of SNK Playmore shares. The CEO of Dongfang Xinghui (subsidiary of Oriental Securities, owner of 80% of the acquired SNK Playmore stock), Zheng Jianhui, has expressed his desire to create "the Marvel Comics of videogames" with SNK's vast IP's.

On November 3, 2015 SNK Playmore has announced that it is leaving the pachislot business and will be re-focusing its efforts on making console and smartphone games.

The return of the familiar name, and the future now

On April 25, 2016, SNK Playmore announced the return of the classic corporate logo back to "SNK". In addition to this, "The Future Is Now" corporate tagline is reinstated.

On December 1, 2016, SNK Playmore Corporation officially changed its corporate name to SNK Corporation (removing the Playmore from the name), together with an updated Neo Geo sound for a new logo opening. According to a 4Gamer interview, this decision resulted from a vote by the company's employees.

On November 2020, The Mohammad bin Salman Charity Foundation announced that it had invested around 813 million riyals ($223 million) in SNK, which gives it a 33.3% stake in the company, valuing the company at $669 million. The investment was made through a wholly-owned subsidiary Electronic Games Development Company (EGDC). The agreement stipulates that the foundation will buy a further 17.7% of SNK's shares in future, granting it 51% ownership of the company.^[6]

Snknewheadquarters — The new SNK headquarters, in Yodogawa-ku, Osaka.

On July 29, 2021, SNK named Kenji Matsubara as its new CEO from August 1. Matsubara was previously CEO and President of Zynga Japan, as well as COO, President and CPO of SEGA Games.

In February 15, 2022, the EGDC company become majority shareholder after buying 96% shares of SNK Corporation on the South Korea stock exchange.^[7] In May, of the same year, SNK notifies the delisting of the company on the Korea Exchange (KOSDAQ) and announced EGDC's future plans to acquire all of the company's shares, becoming its wholly owned subsidiary.^[8]

On March 20, 2023, SNK bade farewell to its legendary Esaka headquarters, marking the end of a remarkable 35-year era of games, dissolution and rebirth. The company's most iconic series and platforms were nurtured in the heart of its previous headquarters. SNK's new home is now situated in Yodogawa-ku, Osaka, ushering in a new chapter of innovation and creativity.^[9] To commemorate this momentous move, a captivating documentary has been released on YouTube, offering an inside look at the company's history, growth, and the transition to the new headquarters. Additionally, a dedicated special website provides a virtual tour of the brand-new workrooms, allowing fans and enthusiasts to experience SNK's future firsthand.